NO fewer than four people were again killed in the early hours of Saturday in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State by some armed men suspected to be on revenge mission.
Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that the assailants who stormed a village called Shekan in the council at about 3:30 am on Saturday, were armed with various dangerous weapons and consequently descended on the inhabitants of the village at random.
A resident of the village who narrowly escaped, said an aged woman and her husband were beheaded in their sleep by the assailants, while two other members of the family were also killed.
It was learnt that before the people of the village could put their acts together for counter attack, the people had disappeared and further took cover in the nearby hills, making it difficult for the law enforcement agencies to locate them.
The state Commissioner of Police Mr. Abdulrahman Akano who confirmed the incidence, said the attack was carried out in the early hour of Saturday, adding that the attack has nothing to do with the usual Fulani invasion.
“This particular killing has nothing to do with the normal Jos crises or attacks by Fulani herdsmen, it is purely a criminal act because no cattle was rustle in the attack, these criminals can be said to be ritual killers because they beheaded the woman and went away with her head, we only found the headless body somewhere in the bush”
The Commissioner of Police said the village was in Bassa Local Government not Jos North Council adding that the affected village was in between the two local government areas.
He appealed to the people of Bassa Local government to maintain calm and should not link the attack to the Fulani.
It will be recalled that the Irigwe Community of Bassa Local Government of Plateau State, the Hausa and Fulani communities living in the area on Tuesday last week, signed a peace pact to end the incessant crises in the area.
In the dotted line of agreement, the three communities unanimously agreed that they were tired of crises, pointing out that with the signing of the accord, there would be no more bloodshed in the local government again arising from communal clashes. The event was witnessed by the Special Task Force (STF), Bassa Local Government Council Chairman, Mr. Musa Haruna Sule, the police, the immigration, the Federal Road Safety Commission, the Civil Defence and other officials of the council.
Meanwhile, At least, four people, including a wife and three daughters of the deposed Olugbo of Ugbo, Adebanjo Mafimisebi, died on Saturday, when the residence of the former monarch was razed down by fire.
The house, located on number 11, Q Road in Oba-Ile Housing Estate, Akure, was razed down completely by the fire that was said to have started in the middle of the night.
The wife of the former Oba, Ayodele Mafimisebi, three of her daughters, Folake, who was 14 years old, Adekemi, 12 years; and Oluwaseun, 8 were all consumed by the inferno.
The neighbours of the deceased were said to have raised the alarm and alerted family members of the ex-monarch that their house was on fire.
When Sunday Tribune got to the building, one of the daughters of Mafimisebi Adetutu, said but for the vigil she went to attend, she too would have been a victim.
She, however, alleged that the building was bombed by some yet to be identified assailants.
She said, “I came in around 5.00am this morning (Saturday) and saw thick smoke coming out of the building. The gate was opened and I saw some sympathizers and security men trying to evacuate the corpses of my mother and sisters.
“Their remains were then taken away to the mortuary of the state hospital in Akure.”
A neighbour of the Mafimisebi’s, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said that sympathisers were able to gain access into the building through the kitchen door that was left opened.
He said, “The main door that led to the building was locked but the kitchen door was left opened. The kitchen did not burn like- wise the sitting room, but the fire razed the bedrooms while the occupants were crying for help.
“We could not gain access to them because the heavy smoke created a barricade, and this forced us to call the fire service men. The deed, had however, been done before the arrival of the fire service men.”
However, a nephew of the deposed monarch, Idowu Mafimisebi, alleged that the incident was arson, saying it might have been carried out by some people that were after the ex-Olugbo.
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